Instruments

  • CHARTRES PSALTERY

    CHARTRES PSALTERY

    CHARTRES PSALTERY. Two halves, top/sides and back, carved separately then glued. Ten double steel strings, brass tuning pegs. Bass string cm.44. From Chartres cathedral, Portail royal, XII century.
  • CITOLA

    CITOLA

    CITOLA , sound box and neck carved from one piece of Cypres . Sound board, Spruce. Vibrating string length cm.42, four metal strings (brass and steel), movable wooden frets. From Oxford MS (All Souls Coll).

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  • Organistrum

    Organistrum

    ORGANISTRUM . Sound box carved from one piece of Red Willow, sound board, Spruce. Eleven keys, allowing to play two octaves full chromatic scale along the three gut strings. Two lines polyphonic playing with drone.

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  • Psaltery

    Psaltery

    PSALTERY. Two halves, top/sides and back, carved separately then glued. Fifteen double steel strings, brass tuning pegs. Bass string cm.44, higher string cm 10.5. From Chartres cathedral, southern gate, XIII century.

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  • Rebab

    Rebab

    REBAB, sound box and neck carved from one piece of wood or molded in clay. Sound board half wood, half parchment. Vibrating string length cm.34, two gut strings; cm. 48. From paintings in Cappella Palatina, Palermo, 1150c.

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  • SYMPHONIA

    SYMPHONIA

    SYMPHONIA. Carved or build in several pieces. Eleven keys, diatonic scale, three gut strings, vibrating string length cm.36. From Cantigas de santa Maria.

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  • Rebec

    Rebec

    REBEC, XV century (Beato Angelico, Tabernacolo de’Linaioli.) Not hyperphilological. This instrument, body entirely carved in Maple, curved sound board in Spruce, three gut strings, no soundpole, is the direct ancestor of the Violin and the closest to it, in measures and way of playing.

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  • Viella

    Viella

    VIELLA , from sculpture in Nicosia Cathedral (Enna), XIV century. Head, neck and sound board carved in one piece of Fir, flat back in Cypress. Double melody strings, two other single strings on fret board, one drone string out of the fingerboard. Slightly curved bridge.

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  • Italian Cetra

    Italian Cetra

    ITALIAN CETRA, from B. Antelami’s sculpture in Parma baptistery, XII century. I previously made many of these instruments with the standard technique: body/neck carved in one piece and sound board added. Now I carve the block upside-down, adding a flat bac.

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  • Psalterium Decachordum

    Psalterium Decachordum

    PSALTERIUM DECACHORDUM , from Chartres Cathedral, XII century. Upper part carved in one piece of Poplar, Beech carved back. Iron tuning pegs. Gut strings or English iron. Tuning: c’ d’ e’ f’ g’ a’ b’ c’’ d’’ e’’. Bass string cm 35.

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    Instruments

    I made instruments for:

    Stefano Albarello (Citole); Alfio Antico (Battente guitar); Francis Biggi (Vihuelas, Colascione); Michele Conti (Citole, Fiddles, Medieval Nyckelharp), Paola Erdas (Psaltery); Kalamos Ensemble (Mandocello, Guitar); Luigi Polsini (Viella); Gianfranco Russo (Ribeca); Andrea Schiavo (Baroque guitar); Giovanni Scaramozzino (Citole, bowed Lyre, Baroque mandolin).

    • Museo dell’Osterio Magno, Cefalù (Palermo), Italy: Qitara;
    • Museo civico di Atri (L’Aquila), Italy: Rebab;
    • Les Prieurales, Abbaie de Graville, Le Havre: Vielle ovale;
    • Instrumentarium de Chartres: Psalterion.

    MAIN EXHIBITIONS

    • “Perugia Classico”, Italy, September 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001.
    • “Cagliari Classico”, Italy, Dicember 1999.
    • Workshops at Medieval festival “Le gaite”, Bevagna (PG) Italy, July 2000, 2001, 2002.
    • Rencontres de Lutherie APEMUTAM, Largentière, France, August 2011, 2012, 2013.
    • Festival Trobarea, la musique des troubadours. Grasse (Nice), France, September 2013.
    • Festival des Musiques des Troubadours au Chateau de Puivert, 9-10 juin 2012.
    • Colloques “L’instrumentarium du MoyenAge. La restitution du son” Paris-Chartres, avril 2014.
    • 11 Festival Les Prieurales, “De la pierre au son”, Le Havre, 20-25 juin 2015.
    • Journées des musique anciennes, Paris, Venves, Novembre 2016.

    Congress “The road to the stars”, INSAP X , OXFORD XI, SEAC 25th. Santiago de Compostela, 18-22 September 2017.

    Chartres 01w    Chartres 02w    LEHAVRE